Vehicles, particularly racecars like stock cars and sprint cars, employ a ridged axle. In the case of a stock car the ridged axle is the rear driven axle, while the front-end suspension is typically of an independent design. Sprint cars utilize a ridged axle at both the front and rear of the car. The chassis is typically sprung and dampened near each of the four wheels. A longitudinal rod with pivoting ends couple the axle to the chassis and restrain for and aft axle motion as well as yaw motion. In addition a lateral mounted bar with pivoting ends couples the axle to the chassis, restraining the axle from lateral movement. The racing industry refers to this lateral rod as a panhard bar.
Wheel tracking refers to the offset or lack of offset between a longitudinal line drawn square from the center of the rear wheel to the front wheel. The front wheel center may be in line with the rear wheel, or offset to the inside or outside. Typically the tracking will have no offsets, which allows the cars to turn equally well both left and right. Oval track cars only turn left as they proceed counterclockwise around the oval track. Both rear wheels are locked to the axle, which makes it very difficult to turn the car.
An advantage to turning left can be made by offsetting the wheel tracking such that the right rear tire is offset outside of the right front tire. Thus the rear-driving tire tries to overturn the car to the left. Prior art utilize offset wheels to accomplish the needed tracking offset. Also commonly used are wheel spacers. These can be inserted between the wheel-axle interfaces. The optimum offset is dictated by the available traction in the track surface. However the track surface will change dramatically during the course of the race. The result is the racecar may turn well at the beginning of the race, but poorly at the end of the race.
Therefore, there is a need for a panhard bar that can be adjusted while the vehicle is in motion. As the driver is most aware of the performance and tracking of the vehicle while in motion, there is a need for the driver to have the ability to adjust the panhard bar while the vehicle is in motion. Additionally, as a driver can be very busy focusing on driving, there is also a need for a panhard bar that is automatically adjusted according to the motion of the vehicle without the need for the driver to adjust the panhard bar. The present invention accomplishes these objectives.